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News & ArtsFriday, February 26, 2010
Boom 5th & Madison: Gitch’r Condos!
Posted by Dominic Holden on Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 10:45 AM
- ECityBlues on Flickr
- 5th & Madison, left, Downtown Library, right
A California-based firm is auctioning 18 of them at bids starting at $195,000—considerably less than their listed prices, which reach a million dollars. But while the auctioneers ballyhoo the low starting prices as an indicator of huge saving, if past auctions serve to predict, most units will end up going to a top bidder who shells out much more. At one recent auction, the units sold for about 80 percent of their listing price—which is still a good deal. Most of the units at 5th & Madison have a taxable value of $400,000 to $600,000, according to King County tax records, which is likely a bit more than they will sell for.
The events are quite the spectacle. From my description of one in 2008: “If a bidder raised his or her auction card, or nodded yes, or so much as blinked in a way that seemed approving, the floor men yelled, 'HUP!' and the auctioneer would increase the bidding. If the crowd stopped bidding, the floor men would gaze pathetically for another bid, like puppies begging for a walk.”
If you want to bid on a condo, you’ve got to pre-register and then show up at 1:00 p.m. on March 28 at the Grand Hyatt Seattle.
1
you can buy a 4 br 3 story house in some cities in the US for $50,000 ...
real estate is only worth what people think it's worth.
Um, that describes pretty much anything there's a market for, you know.
6
http://www.redfin.com/WA/Chehalis/998-NW…
or if you don't like chehalis or aberdeen, tacoma should work just fine:
http://www.redfin.com/WA/Tacoma/3611-E-P…
it's only worth what we think it's worth.
7
My brother, who lives in NYC, and makes a lot more than I do, lives in an apartment the size of my KITCHEN. Supposedly, it's worth more than my entire townhouse ...
Chehalis is along I-5 at elevation 270 feet.
11
13
Well, considering that my relatives who live around there pretty much fit that description, I'd have to go along with your assessment.
And let us not forget the fact that, in many of these auction situations, that "top bidder" is generally a bank that the developer may owe $$ to, or that has interest in surrounding properties. They buy up the existing stock at more than what most people would be willing to pay in order to keep their "value" at close to market-rate, as well as to maintain that rate for the other properties in the vicinity.
Because, if they actually LET people buy condos at 50% of their stated value, well then, THAT would become their actual value, and that would have the effect of devaluing the entire property as well as drag down rates for adjacent properties, which means the developer wouldn't be able to charge as much for future projects, and the bank in turn wouldn't make as much profit on loaning them the $$ to build them.
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